The Blessed Hope

On Monday my wife and I were driving home from a marine survey that was performed for a boat we are looking to buy.  It happened to be the coldest day of the season so far.  During the drive home she had a seizure.  Research since then has shown it to be a Grand Mal seizure without the violent shaking and thrashing.  It was the first one she’s ever had and the only one I’ve ever been around.  I thought during this time that she was dying and there was nothing I could do about it.  It was a dramatic experience.  One we hope never repeats as 50% of those who have such a seizure never have another one.  Tests to date show no reasons for it and we are thankful at the absence of tumors, swelling, or blood leakage in the tests.

Even in this terrible time, I can’t help but reflect upon the importance of acknowledging the season of Christmas.  This is the season we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Son of the one true living God and the free gift of salvation to the world.  We must believe and trust in the person of Jesus and the Father God even when we are existing minute-to-minute in the shadows of death.  We must not fear the unknown but trust the known character of Almighty God who will not leave us or forsake us, but walk with us before all things, through all things, and after all things.  Without the birth of Jesus, none of this is possible.

I pray that I reflect honestly and openly about the significance of the birth of the Son of God, and our dependence upon Him for life.  True life.  Everlasting life.  Jesus was born because God cares for us and loves us even though we are covered in sin.  If only we’ll seek to repent and turn toward Him forever.

We wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. – Titus 2:13-14

The Idol of Our Justice

As I lay awake last night (for some reason I woke up at around 3 am), my thoughts drifted to Jonah and how he had similarities to the older brother in the Prodigal Son story.  In fact Jonah represented both brothers in the Prodigal Son story in some ways, but his attitude in chapter four is remarkable.  I’m sure this was on my mind from hearing the final message in a sermon series on Jonah from Chip Henderson at Pinelake Church in Starkville (http://pinelake.org/media-resources/sermons/series/jonah/).

Jonah ran from God, got swallowed by a fish, got threw-up onto a beach, then went to Nineveh and preached and the city turned to God.  After all of that, Jonah says to God in 4:2-3, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home?  That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish.  I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.   Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”  Why?  Why would it be better for him to die than to live?  It had taken him awhile, but he did exactly what God told him to do.  Yet, he was not satisfied.

Several reasons for this are offered by others:

1. The people of Nineveh are the enemies of his people and he would be held in contempt by his own people.  He might be viewed as a traitor.  
2. He didn’t like those people in Nineveh and didn’t want to see them succeed at anything.  He especially didn’t want to see them avoid God’s judgment.  He was racist against those that were not Israelite and prejudiced against their actions.  
3. He could have been scared, although the Bible doesn’t mention fear.  The modern city of Mosul, Iraq is believed to be the site of Nineveh.  Perhaps then it was full of radical Muslim jihads then too.  What if you were told by God to go to Mosul, Iraq today and preach to them.  Mosul is in the middle of a violent fight today between ISIS and the Iraqi Army.  Would you go? 

These seem valid, but I wonder if it wasn’t something deeper.  The Assyrians who lived in Nineveh had undoubtedly done violent and wicked things.  They were so bad that God had limited the number of days that He would withhold His judgment.  Jonah’s message was their last time to turn to Him.  The Israelites were God’s chosen people and they were trying to follow God’s law.  Similarly, the younger brother in the Prodigal Son story left home and did wicked things and wasted all of the resources he had taken.  The older son stayed at home and did what his Father asked.

Yet, when Nineveh turns to God and when the younger brother returns home, both Jonah and the older brother have serious internal problems with it.  This deeper issue is an issue of their perceived justice.  Jonah wanted these terrible people to burn and the city to be wiped away.  The older brother wanted the younger brother to starve and feed pigs.  They both earned their position and should have to deal with the consequences.  That’s man’s justice.  If my own soul was left to man’s justice, I’d split hell wide open, all of us would.

God’s justice is bound by His character which is framed with mercy, grace, and love.  He gives us what we do not deserve and He doesn’t give us what we do deserve.  The death of Jesus creating a way to God overcoming our sin is not what we deserve, yet God’s character required it. 

The inability to accept God’s position regarding who repents and turns to God is idolatry.  Jonah and the older brother both worshiped their version of justice more than God’s decision.  We must be careful to always look to the miracle of repentance in the heart of men more than what we think their consequence should be.  God will not waste any single opportunity in time for anyone to see Him and repent acknowledging He is the one true living God.

Do you love Me?

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?” – John 21:15

Jesus asks this question after they had dined around a campfire on fish and bread.  This was just after Jesus had told them where to throw their nets to catch fish and they had caught 153 fish in their net and their net didn’t break!

As I read this question from Jesus, I find that I am unsure what is meant by the words “these”. 

Family.  Some interpretations indicate that “these” refers to the other disciples that were there with Peter and who were his spiritual family.  One Bible version actually poses the question as “do you love me more than they do”.  This would imply that Jesus wanted Peter to recognize his place among them.  He should not be ashamed of where he had been or done or said, but lead these other men with his abundant faith.  If Peter loves Jesus more than the family around him, then he is to feed them and shepherd them.

Fish.  Another interpretation considers that “these” refers to the fish.  Peter as a fisherman would have great elation and joy from being a part of such a significant catch of fish.  This was a real fish story.  I am sure that none of them had ever been a part of such a great catch.  They had been blessed in their work by following Jesus’ instructions and casting where He directed.  Yet, Jesus might have been looking Peter in the eyes and saying “do you love Me more than these fish”.  Is following Me the pursuit of your heart more than this success?  The answer to this question had already been demonstrated.  Peter jumped out of the boat and swam to the shore to be with Jesus rather than hold onto the great catch.  The others all held onto the catch and brought it into shore.  Jesus is asking Peter to verify that he loves Jesus more than the temporary emotions of earthly success. 

Friends/Foes.  A last interpretation might be that “these” refers to all the people in the world.  Jesus is asking if Peter loves Him more than all the people in the world.  After Peter says he does, the Jesus instructs for him to feed them spiritually and shepherd them.  “Make disciples” Jesus had told them.  Jesus knew that some people would become friends but many would become foes and oppose him.  Jesus seems to be saying “do you love Me more than the adoration or the hate of men?”  “Do other people have more influence upon you than I do?” 

I believe Jesus meant all of these when He asked Peter this question and we need to carefully examine each category in our own lives. 

1. Do we love Jesus more than our family?  Are we willing to feed and shepherd them spiritually? 
2. Do we love Jesus more than our vocation?  Are we willing to leave it all behind and follow wherever He leads at any time?  Are we willing to be better defined as a Christ follower than as a (insert name of your earthly success)? 
3. Do we love Jesus more than any person on earth?  Are we willing to stand and try to feed the spiritually even if they love us too much or hate us too much?

We must decide how we will answer this question that Jesus asks Peter.

These Political Times

As I sit this morning and peruse the political headlines in multiple news venues, I can’t help but be reminded at how messed up we can make the world.  I reflect upon how we started as a people.  God made a perfect world for us.  He asked us to not be stubborn and want to be as a god and do what we want to do, but to trust His Word simply because it was Him who said it.  He is the Lord and there is no other.  It was only one simple instruction of not.  All the other instructions were to go and do.  Being unable to follow that single instruction, the result was that one of the next two humans ever to set foot on the planet would kill another one.  One of the four killed one.  The decent of man into the opposition to a Holy God is quick.

Looking across the political landscape, I can’t help but wonder if there are any good men left who are willing to sacrifice their entire lives to politically lead.  Unfortunately, that is what it takes with our entertainment industry’s insatiable appetite to find the most deplorable thing about anyone who is not who they decide should be the leader and exploit it until you don’t exist.  It’s a murder in its own right without physically performing the action.  But that’s okay, we’ve made murder legal.  As long as killing is done with the perception that it is a noble action of saving yourself, it is okay, in fact you should be commended for being so good.  And so, the press is completely validated as they work so diligently to slaughter anyone who isn’t who they decide to lead, in fact, in their mind they should be commended for their heroic actions to save the republic.

It is very difficult not to see a vast conspiracy against the ideals of the founding fathers who wrote the Constitution and against anything that indicates there is a Holy God.  One distinct problem we have is the majority of Americans have no stake in the game.  Being an American hasn’t cost them anything, so they expect more while not willing to risk anything.  The founding fathers risked everything just to be able to write the Constitution, let alone live by its decrees.  The original pilgrims in this land came risking all just to be able to worship the Lord in peace.  I stand agasp that anyone really thinks they are more intelligent than the founding fathers and are therefore more informed and capable of modifying the Constitution.  I personally do not know anyone or have ever heard someone who I believe capable of modifying it.  From my own reading of the writing of some of those founding fathers, they were way ahead of anyone in our society and most depended upon their faith as a foundation of their character that heavily influenced their writing. 

Yet, there is a political party whose very existence and purpose is to re-write our society so we are very far from resembling the true intentions of the Constitution.  Everyone is not to be free but to become a ward of the state, but not by force, you’ll choose it.  Through the weapons of moral relativity that enable them to define what is good and bad, control of the media so they can guide the mob, and the power to redefine justice through judges who are allowed to rewrite laws, there is no balanced control to stop the momentum outside of revolution and un-civil war.  I struggle to see how either of those are possible by the people considering how powerful and advanced the military is. 

That puts me right where God wants me.  Depending completely upon Him by believing in Him and trusting Him and nothing or no one else.  The exact expectation He had for Adam and Eve.  “Walk with Me and trust in Me for I am the Lord and there is no other!”

"Do not be wise in your own eyes.  Fear the Lord and depart from evil.  It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones." - Proverbs 3:7-8

If we want to be a healthy nation again, there is an easy prescription written here.  It's another simple instruction, if we will only follow it.

Exploring Moral Relativism

Moral Relativity is a philosophical position, or more accurately, non-position that is destroying the American society and Christians must be aware, prepared, and able to refute it when confronting it, which will happen every day once you are aware of it.

Google defines moral relativism as “the position that moral propositions do not reflect objective and/or universal moral truths, but instead make claims relative to social, cultural, historical, or personal circumstances”.  The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry (CARM) defines moral relativism as “a philosophy that asserts there is no global, absolute moral law that applies to all people, for all time, and in all places.” 

To sum up these definitions describing relative moral philosophy, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “You have your way, I have my way.  As for the right way, it does not exist.”  This is an excellent definition of the dominating theology that is worshiped in the American culture today and unfortunately in many Christians today.

How does a country founded on religious liberty who’s constitution is based on Biblical morals and ethics find itself dominated by a non-Biblical moral and ethical conscious?

1. Theory of Evolution.  People are just the result of odd reproductions of cells dividing in the right temperature and environmental setting.  There is no intended result.  Paul Kurtz wrote in the book The Humanist Alternative, “If a man is a product of evolution, one species among others, in a universe without purpose, then man’s option is to live for himself.” 
2. Political Correctness (PC).  Our culture has become dominated with a hypocritical concept that some things cannot be said or done solely on the basis that they might offend another person.  All other basis do not merit criteria.  In other words, saying something that is true, but offends someone cannot be said.  Being PC is more important than being truthful. 
3.  Acceptance of Abortion.  The cultural acceptance of describing and defending life only after it has left the womb has made murder legal.  This acceptance has allowed all other moral or ethical “truths” to be questioned and regarded as optional or unnecessary.  If we can justify defending a one-day old baby, but not a 9 month old unborn, then we can justify all other sins much more easily.

So, how then are today's moral “currents” defined?  …  Exactly. …  How indeed?  They aren’t.  They are accepted or rejected based on the popularism of each topic with the mob.  The person who leads the mob defines the morals.  They will change with the shifting of the wind to whatever definition leads the mob to the most comfort in the near term. 

This is the description of our culture today and this is the recipe for a quick complete and total destruction.  As soon as one single strong person can lasso the mob into a direction, they will be able to control everything.  In less than a decade, Hitler came to power, led the people into a world war and the purposeful effort to exterminate Jews, and led Germany to defeat – 10 years. 

If Christians want to be relevant, they must be aware every time they encounter moral relativity and be prepared to live in and speak with a Biblical perspective.

Relevance of the Law

In a recent conversation I learned that a long-standing teacher in our church was concerned over how they anticipated one of the older adult students would comment in their class.  He knew he would be discussing the Old Testament and knew the student would comment on how the Old Testament was no longer relevant.  This position is necessary if you want to believe that somehow the Bible doesn’t actually say that sexually immoral people, particularly homosexuals, are sinning. 

God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. – Romans 5:20 (NLT)

All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. – Romans 5:20 (The Message)

I find it remarkable that people want to use the Bible like a buffet.  They want to choose what they want to eat (believe in).  The problem with this type of belief is you are still the god.  If I appoint myself as qualified with my what I believe to be superior intelligence and wisdom so as to be able to read the Bible, the Word of the Living Lord, and decide which parts apply to me in today’s society and which ones do not, then I am the god of my life.  The one true living God is not my Lord.  And as long as I am the god of my life, I will never be fully convicted of all the sin in my life and will therefore, not see the desperate need I have to repent.

In Romans 5:20 we are told that the purpose of the law was to show us our sin.  Isn’t it obvious then that the one thing someone who wants to dismiss the law wants is to not be shown how what they are doing is sin?  Rather than accept the Lordship of God in their life and humbly submit to His commands, they would prefer to simply say that a portion of His Words are not relevant.  The remarkable part of this conversation is that such a person will argue that they are following God!

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves Me will obey My teaching. My Father will love them, and We will come to them and make Our home with them.  Anyone who does not love Me will not obey My teaching. These words you hear are not My own; they belong to the Father who sent Me.”  – John 14:23-24 (NIV)

Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the Law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.  …  If you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.  – Matthew 5:17,19 (NLT)

A person who chooses what they want to believe simply does not love God with their whole heart.  No matter how convinced they are that they are doing what God wants them to do regarding accepting sexually immoral activity, they are really opposing the teachings of Jesus Himself.  It is very sad to see Pastors who are willing to do this.  Their purpose is to preach the Person of Jesus, who is the only Truth, to the world.  Yet they do not accept the Truth in His entirety, so they fail at their only vocation.  These are truly dangerous times. 

But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies … Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. … They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. – 2 Peter 2:1,2,19

They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! – 2 Timothy 3:5 (NLT)

Pray today for those who are ruled by sexually immorality and those who are being taken off the path of following Jesus as a result to support them.  Pray for God’s Spirit to conquer them so that He can take His rightful place as the only Lord in their life.

Psalm 27:1

¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation—
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
    of whom shall I be afraid?

This first verse is pretty well known among Chrisitians.  At least the “whom shall I fear” part anyway.  Chris Tomlin has made it pretty popular with a song of the same name with the subtitle “lord of angel armies”.  

First, let’s not jump past the first segment which has two parts.  “The Lord is my light and my salvation.”  Can you say that?  Is the Lord and the Lord alone your light?  Do you receive your inspiration, the peace of your soul, and your purpose from the Lord alone?  The Lord is to be your “guide, teacher, comfort, and in every sense our light: He is light within us, light around us, light reflected from us, and light to be revealed to us (Alistair Begg).”  

David would later write in Psalms 119:105, “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”  The light of the Lord shows us where we are walking now and where we are to be walking.  That’s all the information we need to know.  With that information we can make adjustments and course corrections as necessary to walk where we are to be walking.  Jesus is quoted in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  He is the light.  If we follow Him we will never be in darkness, never.  He is the light of life. 

If we are in the dark, we seek a light so we know where we are to go and won’t stumble.  Do you seek the Lord’s light?  Do you trust in His light for your direction?  Today’s Christian seems to trust a lot in their own wisdom.  I listened to one Methodist pastor say that “we had evolved past Pauline teachings”.  To not believe in what the Word of God says is not to have “the Lord as my light”.  I believe we need to have serious conversations with ourselves and ask whether we completely truly believe in God and trust in God.  If we do we will experience God.  Otherwise, we are following ourselves and we are not a light in a very dark non-lit world.  We will stumble and the world will consume us.

“Note, it does not just say that the Lord gives light, but that He is light; nor that He gives salvation, but that He is salvation (Alistair Begg)”.  John 3:16 says that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  “God didn’t so love the world that He saved the world; God so loved the world that He provided a salvation for sinners (J. Vernon McGee).”  That salvation is in a Person.  Peter said in Acts 4:12, “… There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  Is the Lord your salvation?  Salvation is not found in anything or anyone or anywhere else.  You can be the most intelligent person ever created, you can be the best physically looking person ever created, you can be the most cunning person, or you can be the most fill-in-the-blank, and you will not be saved from an eternal separation from the source of all life.  Your salvation must be in the person of Christ Jesus.  It is found in Him and only in Him.  There is no other way. 

David wrote, “the Lord is MY light and MY salvation”.  It was personal to him.  He knew the Lord intimately.  Do you practice a relationship like that with your light and your salvation?  Is the Lord so important that you set aside time every day to focus on His Word and to be in conversation with Him?  Do you walk looking for Him at all times in your day?  How personal is the Lord to your life … really (as Andy Stanley says in the taking  responsibility for your life series)?

“The Lord is the stronghold of my life.”  Other translations say “strength of my life” and “fortress of my life”.  This is the third cord in this rope that builds the confidence to proclaim “whom shall I fear”.  The Lord is my light, my salvation, and He is my strength.  He is the might that protects me.  I do not depend upon myself, I depend upon Him.  God not only gives the light so we can see, provides the salvation so we have life, He gives the strength so we can live. 

“Whom shall I fear?” “Whom shall I be afraid?” John Knox said, “One with God is a majority.”  There is a strength to that way of thinking and most of us do not walk with that kind of confidence.  I wonder if it is because we are not one with God.  We agree with God and we desire salvation, but we do not want to submit our lives to Him.  Billy Graham said, “This then is our problem: to associate with and love those who are involved in the world without being contaminated, influenced, or swayed by them.  This distinction can only be achieved by a close walk with Christ, by constant prayer, and by seeking the Holy Spirit’s leadership every hour of the day.  God has provided us the power to resist the world and be separated from it, and it is ours to appropriate that power every hour of our lives.” 

It is very difficult for us to walk in confidence, believing and trusting in the Lord for everything when we do not seek oneness with Him, purposely reserving portions of our lives for own.  Whatever portion you keep for yourself to rule over, it is that portion that will eventually corrupt your heart.  Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other (Matthew 6:24).”  We must seek to be one with the Lord.

Another man (Cromwell) was asked why he did not fear anyone, he said “I have learned that if you fear God, you have no one else to fear.”  We have only one Lord.  We are to walk in His precepts.  We are to submit to his commands.  Jesus is quoted in John 14:21, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”  If there is a portion in your life where you either disagree with God’s Word or you just don’t want to let God in on it, you are not loving God with your whole heart. 

Jesus said the first commandment is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30).”  If we want to walk in the confidence of having nothing to fear, we must love our Lord in every way we can, with everything we are, and at all times.

Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 11:12-13, “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.  Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning.”  Here we are taught that the Lord is to be our light, our salvation, and our strength.  Is He all of these to you today?  Solomon reflects that it would be better to be a pour youth than to be our wealthier older selves who are too foolish to listen to God’s Word anymore and hear the warnings the Spirit puts in our hearts.

At Calvary!

Years I spent in vanity and pride,

Caring not my Lord was crucified,

Knowing not it was for me He died

On Calvary.

Mercy there was great, and grace was free;

Pardon there was multiplied to me;

There my burdened soul found liberty,

At Calvary.

By God’s Word at last my sin I learned;

Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned,

Till my guilty soul imploring turned

To Calvary.

Now I’ve giv’n to Jesus everything,

Now I gladly own Him as my King,

Now my raptured soul can only sing

Of Calvary.

Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!

Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!

Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span

At Calvary!

Am I mindful today of what God did for me?  Am I reflecting upon the fact that He so loved me that He came to live as a human in a physical body, so He could so us Himself, perform no sin, undergo pain and suffering and death on a cross, then be resurrected from the dead?  He did all of this so that I would be able to have the choice of accepting Him and spending an eternity with Him or not accepting Him. 

Can you imagine going to such a length for your child just so they would have an option?  What an incredible sacrifice!  Many parents spend decades living sparsely and saving money so they can give their child an option of attending good schools and going to college.  Some kids of those parents take full advantage of the opportunity, others waste it.  God has provided a perfect sacrifice to offer a simple choice.  The extent of that sacrifice is beyond my comprehension.

Those who have accepted that sacrifice and believe and trust that God is who He says He is should rejoice today.  I pray that I would dwell in joy today at being a child of God, the Creator of all that is or ever will be, the Author of Life.  I pray that I’d look beyond this world and take great comfort in my home with God, the essence of complete love. 

Celebrate today!  Rest in Him today.  Know that you are blessed beyond measure today!

A Foreigner

¹⁸ The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.  ¹⁹ As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”  ²⁰ So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters?  God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. ²¹ Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.  ²² It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. ²³ So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. – 1 Corinthians 1:18-23 NLT

I wonder if I really understand what Paul has written here.  I think I understand it when I read it, but as I walk and converse in the world I find that I am often confounded at why people do things and how it is impossible to have a conversation with them about it.  (I’m often confounded at why I do things, but that’s a different topic.)  I have personally experienced times when I just didn’t know how to say something any simpler or clearer, but they just could not understand it.  It was like there was a wall of misunderstanding and my words were changed into another language.  The whole conversation was beyond my comprehension at how there could be such an extent of confusion over a single concept. 

Paul continues in chapter 2 verse 14, “people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.”  My Bible reference tells me the term spiritual as used here means having the Holy Spirit.  People without the Spirit of God in them simply can’t understand the wisdom of God or accept that His ways are the ways that are best for them. 

A pastor once preached that the only message from God an unbeliever can hear is “Come to Me.”  This is the only message that God has for them until they experience Him, believe in Him, and trust Him.  Any other Biblical wisdom is confounding to them and confusing as if it is spoken in a different language.  I have found this is true for what an old Baptist preacher would call “backsliders”.  Once a Christian starts walking away from God’s clear truths and falls into a lifestyle of not loving God and therefore, not obeying God, they also stop hearing God’s wisdoms.  To speak to them about what they are doing while relating to God’s Word is speaking a foreign language to them.  My experience is that they will not recover until they answer the call, once again, to “Come to Me.”  I do not believe that they are lost, but I do believe they are isolated, confused, and wandering very far away from God’s path. 

I should stop being astounded at what the world does or says.  It does not know God or His precepts.  It does not accept that there is one Truth and His name is Jesus the Christ.  In fact, it is an absolute wonder that the world isn’t very similar to hell itself, but then maybe it is.  I am a new creature the Bible says.  Therefore, I should never be surprised when someone treats me like a foreigner, because I am.  This world is not my home.

I pray today that I’ll begin to live in the reality that this world is not my home.  When I speak to someone who can’t understand why we do what we do or why we live the way we live or talk the way we talk, then I can be sure my citizenship in a different reality has been noticed.  Hopefully someone I meet will also want to go too.

Gaping Wounds

I was in a bad jet ski accident on Sunday.  In it and through it I realized that there are many parallels and some very noticeable differences to being physically injured and spiritually injured.  It is an interesting comparison.

First, I drove the ski to the wake to jump it.  I drove it there, no one else drove it there.  I hit the wake and I landed badly.  I did it.  The ski didn’t drive itself there.  It hit the water exactly how the controller told it to using direction and speed.  The only reason it was bad was because I, as the controller, did a bad job and the result was a very bad injury.  It was no one else’s fault and it is ludicrous to even think that it would have been someone else’s fault.  No one would ever debate this.

When we have bad accidents spiritually, why is it so hard for someone to admit that they are there because they did it?  They made the choices to be where they are and it is no one else’s fault.  Yet, when someone tries to tell another that they are where they are because of bad choices to sin when they had been taught by God the right way and had simply not obeyed, they turn on you like a raging lion.  No one made the choices for them.  They made their choices and controlled their direction and speed the way they wanted to.  It is their fault and no one else’s, but getting someone to take that responsibility is incredibly difficult.  But, it is necessary for there to ever be repentance.

However, it is possible to convince people that my injury is not my fault.  I could say that if my cousin had not wanted to go ride the ski then I wouldn’t have gone and wouldn’t have gotten hurt.  So, really it’s his fault.  I could say that if that boat hadn’t been there then I wouldn’t have been tempted to go jump the wave, so it’s the boat’s fault.  I could say the ski handlebar should have been rated to a higher limit and it shouldn’t have broken, so it’s the jet ski manufacturer’s fault.  See how easy that is?  Even with the stark reality that the only reason I have a gaping wound in my leg is I drove the ski into a wake at an unreasonable speed beyond my capability to control, I am able to not take responsibility for it.

Doesn’t everyone do this spiritually?  We are there with an injured spirit and we can “spin” our situation to anyone anywhere that it is because of this person or that person.  If only they’d have done this or that we would not be there.  We can so spin it, even to spiritually discerning people, that they sort of understand how we could choose sin over faith and even condemn those who try to show us the real reality.  This is an alarming failure of the modern church and of Christians who would rather not accept their reality of who they are over any kind of make believe that lessens the reality of the corruption in their heart.

Second, if I was to not get my physical wound attended to by a doctor, people would be quick to call me crazy.  I mean, if I was to walk around with a 4”x3” open wound with exposed inner leg people would be quick to offer help, to offer a ride to a doctor, to even provide immediate care until proper care could be given.  I could refuse such help, but everyone would work overtime to convince me to get the wound cared for.

If only the spiritual church worked like this.  People walk around us daily with gaping spiritual wounds.  If we only allow for God to show us these wounds we would see them.  It is remarkable at what someone can have going on in their life and we will refuse to show concern spiritually.  We will not even offer immediate care, offer to the spiritual hospital, or enough concern to try to convince them to get help and not remain as they are.

We as a walking, talking church in a world of spiritually damaged people must become more aware of people’s injuries.  There is only one physician for the damaged spiritual condition and His name is Jesus.  I pray that God would help us to see those hurting around us and that we’d be willing to care for them.  I pray that we’d take responsibility for our sin problem, in that we are the one who did it and it is no one else’s fault.  Then may we turn it over to Jesus to heal us and make a way.  

My Foot Slips

If I say, “My foot slips,” Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up.  In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul. – Psalms 94:18-19

What a trivial thing it seems to me to say to the Lord, “my foot is slipping”.  Yet we are reminded in this Psalm that God’s mercy holds us up even over trivial things.  We all have anxieties and worries.  Even when we are constantly reminding ourselves of how God has rescued us from much worse events or situations that we are currently in, we often still find some anxieties.  This Psalm reminds us that our God is a comfort to our soul when we are muddling in those anxieties.

I am reminded of Peter who had gotten out of the boat to go to Jesus.  He had asked Jesus to command Him to come to Him on the water and Jesus had said, “Come.”  He got out and walked on the water!  But in the wind and waves of the water he became afraid.  He took his eyes off Jesus and thought about what he was doing, not on what Jesus was doing, and he started to sink.  “Lord, save me!” he cried.  And Jesus did so.

Maybe we’re in a storm of uncertainty today.  Maybe we’re just unsure where we even are or where we’re going.  Maybe we’re uncertain of how to care for ourselves or those around us.  Maybe we’re uncertain on how to communicate to others or where we should focus our efforts.  And on and on our uncertainties can go.  We don’t know what tomorrow brings and we are anxious.

³⁰ God’s way is perfect.
    All the Lord’s promises prove true.
    He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
³¹ For who is God except the Lord?
    Who but our God is a solid rock?
³² God arms me with strength,
    and he makes my way perfect.
³³ He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
    enabling me to stand on mountain heights.
³⁴ He trains my hands for battle;
    he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.
³⁵ You have given me your shield of victory.
    Your right hand supports me;
    your help has made me great.
³⁶ You have made a wide path for my feet
    to keep them from slipping. – Psalms 18: 30-36

Our Father says that He is with us; He is for us; He will never forsake us; and He will not leave us.  Our Father is not anxious about our circumstance for He has all power forever and ever.  However, I often wonder if He isn’t like a coach, rooting for us and encouraging us to have that necessary faith in Him.  “C’mon, you can trust Me.  I got this.  Go ahead and let it go and let joy take you heart once again.  You can do this!”  We are told here that He makes us surefooted and He keeps us from slipping.  I pray that we trust in God fully and put our circumstance into His very perfect strong supportive hands.

Trust in God today, even for the smallest of slips of your foot.  Have faith and let those anxieties go.

The Kingdom of God is Within You

One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?”  Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs.  You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you.” – Luke 17:20-21

Or as the NKJV interprets “the kingdom of God is within you.” 

The kingdom of God is only found in faith.  It is in knowing that there is only one true living God and that Jesus is our Savior.  It is putting such a value on knowing God that you hate everything in this world by comparison.  “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life.  Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.  And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26-27)  Is there anything in your life that compares to your love for God?  I have often contemplated that it would be easier if I could physically walk with God, but that would prevent an opportunity for blessing.  “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

It is being willing to so trust in God that you are unwilling to waver in your belief, come what may.  “Don’t begin until you count the cost.” (Luke 14:28)  No one knows where the journey following Jesus might take them.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said it best when facing certain death, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.  But even if He doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18)  Whether we find extreme suffering or great blessings, God is still God and He can save us or He can let us perish.  The cost is extreme in worldly standards, but by heavenly standards, where the currency is faith, such a cost is minimum.  There is forever and always only God.

It is being willing to trust God even, or especially, when you do those things that are in our nature to do.  “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. … I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. … O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?  … The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:15, 18, 24, 25)  No one is exempt from this.  Peter, who walked with Jesus on water, did what he didn’t want to do, but Jesus answered that failure and healed him of it.  As Peter was, we also shall we be healed in our failures where we do what we don’t want to do and war within ourselves.  But we have to respond to the kingdom of God within us and not want to do what opposes God.  Otherwise our faith has crumbled.

I am so tempted to look at others and make assumptions regarding their faith.  Truthfully though, no one on earth knows their faith because only God can see their heart.  “The kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs.”  Do they walk in the kingdom of God, following Jesus with the innermost thoughts of their heart?  Only God knows.  The only way to really have a glimpse is in the redemption of people, those who repent and eagerly tell of the glory of God.  “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).  Those who have been rescued tell everyone so that others might also become rescued.  I can feel my faith encouraged when I hear their testimonies and witnesses. 

However, everyone doesn’t realize their rescue.  I have to think that some believe it is their reward or fortune.  Maybe they think that somehow their reasoning to action is a part of it?  I don’t know.

Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.  And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?  Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”  And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” – Luke 17:12-19

Maybe they think that somehow their reasoning to action is a part of their healing?  I don’t know.  Jesus said that “whoever denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.” (Luke 12:9) And “whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9:26)

Some people will not believe you and might hate you for your faith.  They may only tell the tales of your greatest failures and never speak of your testimonies and witnesses of God’s very presence and kingdom in your life, but then that is how Jesus said we become a disciple.  We must be willing to be opposed and hated; we must be willing to let go of this world; we must be willing to fail as an imperfect person; and still know that there is only one true God and Jesus is our Savior.

Hard Knock Life

Before he left for school, Reed and I got everyone to watching and listening to the song and video of It’s a Hard Knock Life from the movie Austin Power’s Goldmember.  It’s really pretty goofy, but we thought it was funny.  If you think it has anything to do with the original Annie version, your expectations are way, way off.  Other than the title of the song, there is nothing similar.

The portion of the original song lyrics from Annie are:

It's a hard-knock life!
Don't it feel like the wind is always howlin?

Don't it seem like there's never any light?

What's a day you don't wanna throw the towel in?

It's easier than putting up a fight.
No one's there when your dreams at night are creepy!
No one cares if you grow or if you shrink!
No one dries when your eyes get wet and weepy

From the crying you would think this place would sink

Of particular interest to me is the line in the middle of the song that I underlined.  I don’t know anyone who hasn’t felt that before, sometimes daily, maybe even hourly.  There simply are times when we feel like we are beat up and tired and we just become unsure how we are going to keep going.    

Contrast that with this portion of lyrics from the song Eye of the Tiger from the movie Rocky III:

So many times it happens too fast
You trade your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive
It's the eye of the tiger
It's the thrill of the fight
Rising up to the challenge of our rival

This song is all about fighting.  “Going the distance”, “rising up to the challenge”, “hanging tough”, “having guts”, “not going to stop”, and “surviving” are all phrases used in the song. 

These are two completely opposite views, but worldly experience tells me it is really hard to find that internal fight as described in Eye of the Tiger until you’ve experienced some of the reality of It’s a Hard Knock Life.  However, spiritual wisdom says that we have no ability to function in this world until we put the weight of our hard knocks into the right hands.  God says we are unequipped to carry the weights of our sinfulness or the sinfulness of others.  We simply can’t do this no matter how hard we try.  Jesus is equipped to carry them, He even asks for them, all we have to do is let them go.  Once we let them go and have faith that He can carry our concerns and anxieties we are then able to be healed.  The wounds in our heart can be stitched up and those holes where we have felt incomplete can be completed.  God is ready to put us together so we can be made whole through His binding of His Spirit with us.

This relates to hard knock’s and fighting because it defuses both of them.  Some people get very caught up in pride over how hard a life they’ve had and others get caught up in pride over how hard they’ve had to fight.  The truth is, both are incomplete unless they have given up and given everything to Jesus the Savior of humanity.  Life is only found in Him.  There is never another way.  God says:

Breathe because I give you breath.

Eat because I provide the bread.

Live because I give you life

And I will carry all your strife.

Go because I make a way.

Know because I spoke today.

Life is only found in Me

No matter what you think or see.

The song Breathe by Michael W. Smith is very reflective of this.  You can hear/watch it HERE.  Every moment we try to be defeated or we try to fight without God is a wasted moment in our life.  We live in moments of faith until they are connected and every moment is faith.  If there is any work to do regarding our hard knock’s or fight, it must be to connect every moment in faith.  That is the real fight.

Amazing Grace

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”

There’s a lot of theology in that song verse.  There’s also a lot of humanity in it.  But most of all, there’s truth in it.  I am a wretch.  I am a poor creature, a despicable and contemptible person, a criminal, a poor soul, a creep, and every low personal description that you can imagine.  I am profoundly unhappy and in great misfortune.  If I am left to myself and only myself, I will do the most deeply evil things. 

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. – Galatians 5:19-21

Everything described in that verse is something I am if I am left to myself.  All those works of the flesh will manifest themselves in me without God within me.  I am a wretched wretch.  The worst and best reality for us is when we realize what we are really.  No false fronts; fake impressions; wrongful descriptions; or hopeful blind perceptions.  We accept that what God says is true.  “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 54:6)  It is the worst because we don’t like to face the reality of what is truly inside of us.  It is the best because we see who God is and why we are destitute, a beggar with nothing, without Him.

“Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5)   

The glory of God is that His grace doesn’t accept that we exist without Him.  Even in our wretchedness, He comes to us, lifts us up, cleans us off, and offers an existence apart from the temporal flesh.  Through Him and Him alone we can “lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and … run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).  We are no longer unclean; we are no longer a wretch; but “in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17). 

It is an amazing grace.  What a pleasant sweet sound!  I do not deserve the focus, the attention, the personal love from a pure and holy God when I am so impure.  But what a sweet sound is His amazing grace that saves a wretch like me.  That grace is something I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to fully grasp or understand except in the very presence of God the Father and Jesus the Christ.  

Pursue His Presence

In the book, Pursuing the Will of God by Jack Hayford, he retells a story by Jean Firth.  John and Jean Firth were missionaries to Columbia starting around 1952.  They had endured severe persecution as they were not allowed to pass out tracks or advertise and were even stoned in the street (as told by The Vine and The Branches by Nathaniel Van Cleave).  However, they witnessed miraculously healing through prayers and that started a revival and the church grew by many thousands. 

Jean was on a very old plane flying over the Andes Mountains when the plane experienced very violent turbulence.  She was shaken, half-sick, and afraid for her life.  She quietly prayed to God that He would instruct the turbulence to be quiet just as He had told the sea to be still.  God answered that she should instruct it.  So she said, “In the name of Jesus I command you to be still.”  Instantly the turbulence stopped.  About 30 minutes later, the turbulence started again and it was just as violent.  She said again, “In the name of Jesus I command you to be still.”  But nothing happened.  Confused, she prayed to God again asking why the turbulence stopped the first time but not the second.  God answered her saying, the 2^nd time, you didn’t ask me to stop it.

Today I am reflecting upon this story and the author’s thoughts that we need to depend only upon God’s direction, leadership, and Words every day.  They must be new every morning.  What God did yesterday, how He delivered us, and where He led us may be completely different in how He delivers and leads us today.  We must turn to God first every single day so that we are following Him, not leading Him thinking we know how He’s going to answer our needs today.

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Refrain:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conqu’rors we are!

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

Today, life may be asking you to give more than you want to give.  You may feel like you are slowly being drained of life every day taking care of the responsibilities God has given you or bearing a grief that has been laid upon you.  Maybe you feel like you are in a time of darkness and you just don’t know how, when, or if you’ll make it out.  Maybe you feel like nothing will ever just be normal again.  Do not fear.  God knows exactly where you are.  You are not lost or forgotten.  He is there.  Trust Him and ask Him to draw preciously closer so that you can feel and know His presence.  We are only complete in peace and full of love when we are in His presence.  Pursue Him this morning and rest in His hands.

Leaving Home

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” – Matthew 27:46

David, in an intense foreshadowing of Jesus in this moment on the cross wrote, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?  Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?  O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent.” (Ps 22:1-2).  These are the words of a son to his father.

For the first time in my life, I get a very small glimpse or sense of what this must have felt like for God the Father.  I am mindful that there is no comparison to what God must have had to endure in this moment being the embodiment of perfect love.  This weekend we took our son to college and … left him there.  While there is difficulty in knowing that he isn’t in our home now, at least for the majority of time, and it hurts just not having him around because we like him, the deepest difficulty for me is knowing that there will be a time when he is lonely, maybe depressed, needing encouragement, wanting guidance, hurt, disappointed, rejected, angry, sad, or any other part of life where it helps to be surrounded by those that love you and we won’t be near to him or able to provide support.

There is parental pain, and rightfully so for responsible parents, in not being able to provide for and support your children.  So it is in this mindset that I weight how God the Father could be in the heart of His One and only Son, not just hear His cry, but feel the depth of His pain in His heart, and allow Him to hang there lonely, hurt, disappointed, and rejected.  Reason would tell us that a God who loved His Son would not allow Him to do that and would Himself intervene to keep Him from suffering so.  But that is man’s logic and it is incomplete.  God, who is Himself perfect love, allowed Him to suffer so that perfect love could be provided to His Son and to all who have the gift of life.

Understanding the pain in loss required for perfect love is difficult.  God the Father had to endure the loss of communion with His only Son for a time so that perfect love could be provided.  Not nearly the same, but we as parents bear our children leaving to go into the world to become who they must become.  We do not want them to leave but we know it is what is best for them, us, and the hopefully for society in general.  God had to not intervene in that moment of separation from His Son so that He could intervene for man.  There will never be a greater show of power in all that exists than what was on display in that time that Jesus spoke those Words.  Not only was it the power of love to save man, but it was the power to hold back His own Hand.

“But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.  Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You delivered them.  They cried to You, and were delivered; they trusted in You, and were not ashamed.” – Ps 22:3-5

May we rest today in the absolute power of the love of God for us who was willing to hear and feel the cry of His only Son’s anguish and not act so that we might have a way to know Him and be saved from our iniquities.  May we rest in our work as parents to trust God for their protection and to provide people into their path to continue to show them Himself so they might grow in His presence.  We pray for our children and we pray for ourselves.  All our hope is in Jesus our Salvation and God our eternal Father forever.